The Trump Administration’s Looming Political Crisis

It is election day here in Virginia but regardless of the outcome this evening, a piece in the New Yorker argues that America will be facing more drama and upheaval as the regime of Donald Trump, a/k/a Der  Trumpenführer, and Mike Pence lurches closer to a political crisis when additional indictments by special counsel Robert Mueller include more of Trump's inner circle or even Trump himself.  If these were normal times such as even back in the Watergate era, the Republican Party could be counted on to stand for the rule of law and democracy and the potential actions of Trump would be restrained.  Now, all bets are off as a majority of Republicans put their political party over the nation and normal legal norms.  As a prior post noted, Trump continues to seek to exceed his powers and to push for an authoritarian regime with his word becoming binding fiat.  Here are article highlights of what may lie ahead:

It was only a year ago that voters delivered Donald Trump to the Presidency. It feels much longer. Trump’s Twitter storms and erraticism can seem to slow time. There was his initial travel ban, last January, followed by protests at airports, court injunctions, a new travel ban, further injunctions, and an intervention by the Supreme Court. Add to this his adventures in nuclear brinkmanship; his assault on Obamacare; his moves to tear apart the world’s free-trade system; and his use of the White House bully pulpit to normalize white supremacy. It may seem many months ago, yet it was only in mid-August that he took note of the “very fine people” attending a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, where a white nationalist murdered a counter-protester. . . . Trump’s conduct rarely suggests deliberation; it more often seems to express his anger, his tiresome ego, and his instincts for performance.

It requires fortitude to accept the likelihood that the Trump Presidency is about to become more eventful still. The investigations into Vladimir Putin’s interference in the 2016 election, and the possibility that Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia, are intensifying. The accusation that Russian covert operations influenced the Presidential vote clearly drives Trump to distraction.  . . . the latest revelations do not bode well for the President.

Last week, congressional committees summoned representatives from Facebook, Google, and Twitter to grill them about how they could possibly have allowed polarizing, race-baiting ads to be placed on their platforms by companies linked to the Kremlin. . . . . It is shocking that only now, and after early denials from Facebook that the ads were a serious problem, are we discovering the vast online spread of manipulative content linked to Russia.

The Justice Department has also made a leap forward in its efforts to clarify Russia’s interference and to prosecute anyone involved in illegality. Last week, Robert Mueller, the special counsel, announced the indictment of Paul Manafort, Trump’s former campaign manager, and an associate, Rick Gates, . . . the indictment served notice to Manafort that if he wishes to avoid a long prison sentence he might consider talking with Mueller’s investigators about, for example, what Trump knew about Russia’s efforts to help him get elected.

A Justice Department investigation of a sitting President or his senior aides creates its own ecosystem of betrayals and political calculations. When considering Donald Trump’s position, it is natural to reflect on Watergate and the events that led to Richard Nixon’s resignation, in 1974. The political equation is more favorable for Trump than it was for Nixon. . . . Trump remains popular with committed Republican voters, and the Party’s congressional wing has so far been largely supine.

The President’s allies at Fox News and at the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page continue to denigrate Mueller, priming the Republican base for a day when Trump might decide to fire him. Judging by Trump’s tweets, there can be no doubt that he would if he thought he could get away with it.

Such an intervention would precipitate a political crisis with an unpredictable outcome. Trump occupies the White House in an era of heightened Presidential powers. He may be constrained by his unpopularity outside the Republican Party, as well as by the professionalism of the F.B.I., the judiciary, and the press. But, as Archibald Cox observed just before he was fired, “Eventually, a President can always work his will.” In all probability, the country’s most dangerous trials during the Trump Administration lie ahead.

 I for one am fearful for the future. Trump - and Pence - is a malignancy on the nation and moral society.